


(No) Vacancy

by Falling_Future



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), Tangled (2010), Varian and the Seven Kingdoms
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood, Blood and Violence, Canon Divergent, Dark, Gen, Mind Control, One Shot, Psychological Horror, There’s a little bit of varian/hugo in this if you squint, Violence, its my first time writing for tangled universe so if anyone acts off forgive me, kind of, mild horror elements, sorry if the ending feels a bit rushed or I didn’t spend a lot of time on the other characters, takes place in between while they’re heading to the next kingdom, there’s a few creepy/spooky moments in this just a warning, this is just varian and hugo whump I guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:29:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27408103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Falling_Future/pseuds/Falling_Future
Summary: After losing their way to the next kingdom and straggling in the woods, Varian and his team stumble upon an old looking manor and decide to take shelter for a safe, cozy night. However, looks can be deceiving...
Kudos: 37





	(No) Vacancy

“Can we admit that we’re lost yet?”

“No.”

“How about now?”

_ “No.” _

“ _ Aaaand _ how about now?”

“We’re  _ not lost,  _ Hugo!”

Okay, maybe they were a little lost.

The sound of paper aggressively scrunching in a tight grip drowns out the footsteps that were the only punctuation to the awkward silence. Already they wished for the silence to return, to let the rising tension pass beneath them and get back on track, that is until the snarky comment from the blonde protege had tipped their group leader over the edge.

The alchemist was on a rampant search for his mother, or whatever trace of her remained. There was a whole  _ legacy  _ to his family he hadn’t even known about, and the clues were within the scrawlings of a worn almanac. He holds some knowledge about his father’s Dark Kingdom days, but never anything about his absent mother. Varian didn’t  _ expect  _ to be having any sort of tag alongs, especially annoying, unwanted ones that dress in a shade of green that remind him of something Ruddiger ate once...after he threw it up. But nonetheless he was thankful to have  _ someone _ accompany him. While his trusted raccoon buddy and traveling donkey could assist in those longer nights for some form of comfort, maybe  _ human _ interaction was for the best.

He wouldn’t say he’s socially inept, but...past mistakes seem to stem from a complete lack of understanding on his part. A shudder passes through him, as if feeling the cold stone of a prison cell he spent near months in, heated _ire_ and vengeful fantasies keeping him warm through those nights. Those were behind him, _far_ behind him. His new friends have grown on him, the young accident prone boy being something of an apprentice to him, the level headed princess of a kingdom plagued with disasters raining down from the cosmos frequently was an excellent voice of reason, and he was even forming a respect for the shady boy, their talents and skill _mostly_ matched, although it’s not like Varian would ever admit to that. It would feed far too much into the massive ego Hugo seems to carry, and now the only “massive” thing about him was the massive _migraine_ he was giving the boy.

Hugo is surprised to see the cross expression on the other’s face, mouth formed into a tight scowl. The sheer force of will it takes to swallow back a comment about how the red in his cheeks made it look like Varian was blushing nearly makes him choke, the blonde quickly coughing into his fist before clearing his throat.

“Really now?” He starts, stepping past the angered alchemist. As far as they could tell, they were still nowhere near their next stop, having been wandering through a large stretch of woods for a few hours now. “Because- Hm, what I’m seeing is… Trees,  _ trees,  _ oh look more trees, and  _ no kingdom!” _

The timbers creak while branches sway with every sighing breeze, the group just barely able to see the orange and violet hues beginning to paint the sky through the dappled leaves. It would be night soon, and after getting turned around from being swept away by a riverbank, they either had to get back on the right path as soon as possible or seek out shelter. That, and traveling in such unknown territory, who knows what sort of dangers could lurk within. 

Even Nuru looked to be on edge as the sun’s light begins to dwindle and fade, only having a lantern to protect and guide them. But how long would the oil last? Would it even work? The supplies could be damaged after their incident at the river! Of course, if they had lost the proper path she could easily chart the stars, and given the sun was setting  _ ahead  _ of them they must be moving West. And when the glittering night sky would normally be of help, with the stars obscured by the series of leaves and branches arching over them,  _ intimidating them,  _ she wouldn’t be able to map a proper course. It’s not like she’s ever been to this next kingdom either, so what good would that do if she just picked a random direction?

A smaller, more nervous voice breaks from behind the Princess. “I don’t mean to cut in,” A young boy steps out from behind her, having nervously clung to the fabric of her dress for comfort. The sound of his pseudo apprentice captures Varian’s attention, breaking away from his rival. “But we...still have the map!”

That was a bright side, wasn’t it? Sure, most if not all of Yong’s fireworks had been destroyed by the rapid waters, not to mention a good portion of the supplies, but they still held the key to untold secrets! The alchemist hadn’t quite fully opened up yet to the boy about his mother, but he understood the importance of this journey. He was the first to travel alongside Varian, and he’s seen many sides of him. One excitable and ready to take on the world, and the other, someone who constantly fidgets with the almanac in his hands, guards it with his  _ life  _ as the last remaining relic to his mother’s tale.

“What good is a map if we don’t know where we’re going?” Despite Hugo’s point, Varian steps forward, inches from the blonde’s face. 

“Hey he’s right you know!” He objects, pressing a gloved finger to Hugo’s chest. “At least we still have  _ something!” _

“Oh?” Hugo glances away from the boy’s piercing gaze with a roll of his eyes, the sound of cricketsong beginning to surround the area. “Care to remind me who it was that got all our gear ruined?” Seriously, he had some valuable trinkets that were now  _ lost  _ to the roaring current they had left behind hours ago, and now it’d take forever stealing something of equal value!

Varian seethes, staring intently at someone he’s been trying very hard to consider a  _ friend _ , but the inventor’s attitude was  _ really  _ getting on his last nerve. “We fell into the river! H-How do you expect me to prevent something like that!?”

“What mister alchemist, suddenly you don’t have some-  _ grand solution _ that could’ve saved us?” Hugo steps back, making an exaggerated, all encompassing motion with his arms upon speaking of a “grand solution” to mock the other boy. “Maybe you could shove an entire ship into a tiny ball if you’re just  _ so  _ magnificent at the endeavors of alchemy!”

“I know where I’m gonna  _ shove  _ a ship it’s going right up y-“

“Will you two  _ stop it!?” _ Nuru immediately cuts between the two, pushing them apart. Their narrowed gazes still stay on one another, Hugo crossing his arms while Varian’s remain at his sides, hands balled into tight fists.

When the taller boy happens to swipe a quick flash of the tongue, the dark haired alchemist lurches forward. “Oh real mature you... _ you-“  _ A frustrated groan escapes him, shoulders slumping in defeat when he can’t think of a good insult. A pout forms on his face, the cheeky grin contrasting it only stoking his anger even more.

“Look, we’ve all had a rough day, so let’s at  _ least  _ find shelter so we don’t have to settle with a rough night.” 

The piercing cyan stare held firm against the green one hidden behind round spectacles, the staredown coming to an end as they finally concede. They both leer opposite from each other, and only move when a satisfied sigh leaves the princess.

“Good,” She hopes she managed to get those two to stop fighting for a little bit. Nuru calls for Yong, motioning for him to catch up now that the little spat was put to a temporary end.

The pause between their incessant bickering rivaled that of the sweet harmonies performed before her very eyes. As royalty, she’s expected to be entertained, is she not? And while she was perfectly set on her own, and more concerned about the state of her kingdom than anything, there were times where she was given a moment to  _ relax and think _ while music flowed through the ballroom. 

It takes a minute before Nuru is aware of Hugo’s presence, the inventor trodding right beside her while Varian walks ahead, focused intently on the map.

“Why didn’t you let me finish?” He could’ve easily taken role as leader and gotten them out of these woods in no time! He speaks in a hushed tone, continuing even when Nuru raises a brow at him, unamused. “We’re gonna be going in circles for hours now!”

“Uh yeah, I can hear you by the way.” In a swift turn Varian affirms his statement with a fake smile, rolling up the map while taking cautious steps backwards. “And guess what? I think I just found us a  _ cozy little place  _ to spend the night in!” He whirls back around, outstretching his arms as if to showcase what laid beyond the vast ocean of trees.

“Bet you five coins he’s cracked.” Immediately, Hugo brushes it off as delirium, or some stroke of the alchemist’s very insecure hubris. 

“Okay, you’re joking.” Nuru wouldn’t have much use for the coins if he  _ was  _ right, but either way there isn’t a chance in  _ hell _ the thief would dare give up any sort of earnings.

There’s a brisk chuckle as the walking comes to a stop, the blonde’s attention solely on the girl. “You know what? I’ll take a risk. A leap of faith as you would call it.” With a smug stride he continues forward, only to realize he wasn’t met with the sound of footsteps trailing behind him. And it was then, he realizes, that his feet were no longer on hardened soil, but rather, something bumpy with a smooth surface. 

A quick glance down reveals a path of stones embedded in the ground. At first they’re scattered, as if the missing pieces had been plucked from the earth itself or buried far beneath it. But eventually, they evened out into a tight knit path, and down that, was an entrance to an ominous manor.

Even in the distance, the place had an aura of eeriness to it. With gothic styled architecture, the walls were made of smooth stones pasted together by mortar and cement. The roof was a rich mahogany, some of the shingles peeling away to reveal the blackness beneath. It was old, clearly, with ivy vines climbing the sides of the walls, implying the place hasn’t been kept up in years. 

_ So why was there a soft glowing light in one of the windows? _

Nuru doesn’t say a word, merely walking up to the awestruck inventor with her hand out. It takes Hugo a moment, but he begrudgingly reaches into his pocket, eyes still locked on the building as he lazily tosses a small satchel of coins her way.

“What was that about me cracking again, Hugo?” Varian is robbed of drinking in the small defeat of his rival, the taller boy’s gaze still fixated on the manor. “Uh hello? Hugo?” He pauses with a short chuckle, trying to mask the nervousness of the fact that their usual banter hadn’t started up again.

“Not gonna give me one of those good ol’ comeback combos?” He gives up when Hugo strolls past him, clearly more interested in the building than the alchemist’s pettiness. “No? Okay...”

“How intriguing...” Hugo adjusts the rims of his glasses, pushing them up just the slightest bit. It was a near perfect sight with the setting sun casting an all encompassing glint around the mansion, a cascade of fiery oranges and washed pinks making it look like something straight out of a painting the likes of which only royalty could afford. 

And in his stunned trance, an idea forms.

“Well,” His pause is emphasized by a clap of his gloved hands, a surprisingly cocky smile on his face as he struts forward. “Let’s go rob the place.”

“You mean  _ sleep,  _ right?” The warning in Nuru’s tone is enough to have Hugo turn around, looking up at his band of friends from up the slope. Her crossed arms complimented Varian’s dejected glare well, and anticipation,  _ expectation _ begins to loom in on Hugo.

“Yeah, that too.” He gives a short tug to the collar of his outfit, suddenly feeling much hotter than it had previously been as the others join his side. He staggers back when he’s nearly  _ kicked  _ by that damned donkey the alchemist had brought along with him. What did Varian say again? Something about it being a gift from his dad? The man must  _ truly  _ love his son so dearly to award him such an...interesting steed.

“Hugo?”

With a glance the blonde’s attention is on the youngest of the group, and he can’t help but feel a small strain in his heart at the sight of such wide eyes. It wasn’t the excitable eagerness that he’d normally come to know, but rather, a slight  _ fear  _ that paraded behind what he can assume is Yong’s best effort to put on a brave face.

“I know it’s a lot better to sleep in there, but...what if somethings  _ inside  _ the manor?”

_ “Don’t. Tell. Him. Any. Scary. Stories.”  _

The inventor rolls his eyes from their leader’s warning. Like he was going to do that! Okay, maybe he did it once while they were making a stop between kingdoms, but he frightened  _ everyone!  _ Surely that’s just slightly better than solely frightening the impressionable child! 

He opens his mouth for some kind of positive retort, that if something reared its big ugly head then Yong could just...blow it up, like he always does! Then it hits him. Firstly, all his fireworks were destroyed, and secondly, Yong was trying to make something  _ not  _ explode for once. He lowers his head, a hand to his chin as he ponders on what to say.

“I... _ guess  _ if something’s in there then we’ll...protect you?” He offers an awkward smile, far from sincere but a child terrified of what lurks in the unknown might not be in their favor. Because that fear leads to screaming... _ then crying.  _ Then they’d have to sleep outside for the night while taking turns “guarding” him until he  _ finally falls asleep all because he got scared by the shadow of a spider- _

“Of course we’ll protect you!” The princess picks up the boy with ease, throwing him onto her shoulders. Yong’s grip is tight, the shine in his eyes returning.

“Really? Even if it’s like...a  _ big _ monster? A super scary one?”

“Please Yong, you’re traveling with the guy who helped take down a  _ demon,”  _ Varian smirks, Hugo deadpans. “Of course that was mostly teamwork from Rapunzel and Cass and I nearly died but  _ I still helped!” _ He places his hands on his hips in a triumphant pose, remembering that day vividly.  _ Very  _ vividly...he might be traumatized from that actually, but that was just another addition to  _ everything else. _

“We’re also traveling with a former criminal.” Apparently Hugo’s muttering was loud enough to capture the attention of the boy in question, Varian once again closing in on the blonde.

“Big words coming from the  _ thief.” _

_ “Yeah and which one of us got caught?” _

“If you two start again  _ I swear-“  _ It almost feels like she was stuck  _ babysitting  _ them, having to prevent two  _ toddlers  _ from getting into a slap fight. She says nothing more, grabbing Varian’s gloved wrist as gently as she can before leading him away from Hugo, walking at a much faster pace than the others. If separating them meant keeping them from  _ arguing _ , then so be it. 

“Can’t you two just act like  _ friends  _ for once?” She’s seen it herself! The pair could actually get along, and even witnessed a bit of conversation between them. They did have several things in common in spite of their backgrounds, and if they could stop being  _ rivals _ then maybe this could work! 

As they approach the manor she stops, waiting for the rest to catch up. She notices how olden the set of arched double doors are, the slightly splintered wood a tribute to its wear over the years.

“Before we knock, would anyone like to  _ say  _ anything?”

For a moment, the two remain silent while Yong stands confused besides Prometheus, who happens to have a raccoon happily sleeping on his back throughout this entire ordeal. When the pair of inventors note that Nuru was going to delay their entry to shelter if they didn’t make peace right now, they relent.

_ “Varian,”  _ Hugo starts, sharp green eyes scanning the other boy up and down, as if judging him, before resting back on the ocean colored gaze. Underlying spite fuels his words, straining to get them out without it feeling like he was downing  _ poison _ with each sentence. “I would like to... _ apologize  _ for my behavior. I’m just a  _ bit  _ upset that some of my gear was destroyed by a set of easily preventable raging rapids.” This smile was even more forced than when he was trying to comfort Yong, but to his surprise, the dark haired boy appears to relax, exhaling with a sigh.

“Hugo…” 

Maybe they were all just on edge. He’s seen the good shine through in the inventor, that they can get along when they aren't butting heads over who’s whimsical gadget could get the team out of a precarious predicament. Could a good night’s sleep help take the edge off? They could even rummage through the house for any sort of rations and supplies! He already intended to salvage whatever hadn’t perished from the river, so this could lead to a fun bonding exercise!

“I-I’m sorry for snapping- We’re all just angry...and cold-“

“And wet-“

“And wet. But we can’t let a bad day dictate this entire journey, okay?” He knows that all too well, and had to learn from it the hard way. One bad day, a single incident, could lead to unwarranted destruction of the self and others, and Varian  _ refuses  _ to go down that path again, or let the same fate befall anyone else for that matter... _ because they might not be as lucky as he was.  _

He extends his hand out towards Hugo, wanting to shake on it as a sign of amendment. Something... _ flickers  _ in Varian’s eyes, something that makes the taller boy blink in surprise. It was this... _ intensity, a seriousness _ that he’s rarely seen from Varian. Oh the alchemist was determined, and was being serious about his adventure via his mother’s old almanac, but this...this held reflections of  _ the past, of a mistake that he doesn’t wish to be repeated. _

Slowly,  _ hesitantly,  _ Hugo reaches forward, their hands closing in a soft grip before they shake. That was settled...for the most part at least. Perhaps he  _ was  _ being a bit too hard on Varian, that making enemies with his own teammates would do him no good. He has to keep them close... _ he’s expected to, after all.  _ How did that saying go again? Oh, it hardly matters, as long as he toned it down without diminishing his dignity, then why not keep the temporary peace?

“Wow boys, that’s the fifth friendship lesson you’ve learned this week!”

“Princess, could you...open the door?” Yong didn’t want to interrupt what he assumes is Nuru gloating over the fact she de-escalated the situation, but the final traces of the sun were beginning to wane from existence, having to wait hours for it to show just a  _ peek  _ of itself again in the morning.

“Oh yes! Uhm-“ Upon giving the brass handle a tug, she steps back, met with nothing but restraint. It was surprisingly sturdy for such an aged door, and half expected the handle to break right off with the gentlest touch. She tries the other handle, but no such luck awaits her. A bead of sweat forms along her brow as she attempts one more time to pry open the doors, for the group to be given the solace and safety of a roof over their heads just for the night. Once again, they’re denied, the gold colored handles almost mocking them in a sense. “Right, guess we should find a key then.”

“Key?” Hugo glances to his partners, and when he spots Varian’s befuddled look, he swiftly lets the stone he pulled out of the earth tumble back to the ground with a solid clunk. He instead shrugs, placing himself beside the princess as he inspects the old house front. 

Not really his style of breaking and entering, but maybe shattering a window isn’t the safest. Hugo didn’t care about getting a cut palm or bruised knees, but he’d never hear the end of it if he even dared to try and help Yong through a broken window. 

“Hey uh, not to interrupt but...do you guys hear that?”

Varian’s question makes Nuru stop her search, while Hugo, absentmindedly or not, ignores the question, rummaging through a set of unkempt bushes, hoping his lenses wouldn’t get scratched by the branches and needles. 

“Hey I hear it too!” It took the fireworks expert a moment to recognize the sound, mostly because one too many incidents with explosive substances combined with  _ a lot  _ of failures can sometimes lead to strained hearing. The sound of  _ waves  _ become distinct, the two following Varian as he steps away from the house’s stone path. We’re they really this close to a body of water?

“Do you wanna get in or not?” The blonde cuts the admiration short, not too interested in waves or  _ whatever  _ it was. “There’s water nearby, how exciting.”

The alchemist quickly unfurls the map, squinting as he tries to pinpoint their exact location. He blinks, tilting his head away from the map as confusion falls upon his features.

“What is it?”

“Y-Yes, we  _ are  _ near a body of water but it’s uh- it’s not on the map.” He turns the paper over to show Yong, revealing a detailed, expertly drawn map. They were still within a certain patch of woods as far as he could tell, but it’s been taking ages to get to the next kingdom. And what with them getting lost, the unfortunate conclusion was…

Varian swallows hard.

“I think we  _ miiiight  _ be in uncharted territories. Just...just maybe... _ possibly….” _

“Uncharted?” Yong didn’t know what that entailed exactly, but the look of confusion to horror on Varian’s face meant that no good could come of it.

“As in, this place isn’t  _ on  _ the map. It’s undocumented.”

“What do you mean,  _ not on the map?”  _ Nuru casts a glare at Varian, eyes wide with concern that has a stern vitriol lying just beneath. She marches over to him until she’s but a few feet from the boy, silently demanding an explanation.

“I mean it isn’t on the map!” How else could he have put it? “I-It isn’t drawn anywhere on here it just  _ stops  _ at the woods on this...this North West bit right here!” With a shaky finger he points where they are...or thinks they are. He had followed the trail of the river, and since they were headed  _ West _ , well this was his best guess.

“Okay Varian, and how  _ come  _ the next kingdom is  _ North East? _ ”

“Wait what?” He double checks the drawing once more, staggering back and nearly dropping the map. He has to lean against Prometheus for support, nearly waking up Ruddiger in the process. “O...Oh my gosh we...we are  _ so far  _ from whe-ere we need to be I...ha…” He slumps against the mule, slowly raising a hand to his head just to keep in check with his surroundings as well as  _ reality.  _ His head felt as though it was spinning, like a light in the front that had just been snuffed out, and his mind was trying desperately to reignite it so that he doesn’t faint.

How on  _ earth  _ were they going to get to the next kingdom now? His heart pounds in his chest, drowning out Nuru’s questions and Yong’s concerned, timid murmurs. He takes in slow, deep breaths, trying to ground himself. This was similar to something he experienced back in Corona. They were less frequent now but every once in awhile he’d relive a memory from his past, and the sensation….

_ God,  _ the sensation was exactly like this but  _ far worse,  _ his mind on the brink of collapse, pins and needles tingling at his cheeks and the complete  _ blankness  _ of the world around him until he finally crashed back into it with a hard  _ snap,  _ most often than not sobbing uncontrollably or curled up in a corner while vindicative thoughts soured his mind.

_ “Aha!” _ It sounds distant, far too distant for Varian to recognize. Footsteps grow closer in his hearing, and soon enough the image of Hugo comes into view, a small rusted object pinched between his fingers. “Found the ke- Oh hey is he having an aneurism?”

“Oh,” Varian sighs, the slightest bit of relief waning the oncoming tidal wave of sheer  _ panic. _ “Thanks so much Hector you can o-oh...pen the door now.”

“It’s...it’s Hugo, remember? Nuru is he dehydrated or something? Probably from being  _ salty  _ all day.” The unamused glances from the other two teammates causes the blonde to back off, hands slightly raised. “Okay, okay, not the time for jokes. But on the bright side…” He flashes the key before them, stopping once the princess snatches it from his hand and walks out of Varian’s line of sight.

“He just found out we’ve been going in the wrong direction.”

As if that wasn’t obvious enough. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you!” He lets out a frustrated groan, helping the frightened boy to his feet. The alchemist staggers, leaning on Hugo for support. “So, Royal alchemist, now can we admit that we’re lost?”

There was a sense of  _ smugness _ in Hugo’s voice as he carries Varian closer to the door, the boy muttering something into the inventor’s shoulder.

“I’m going to...take your dumb glasses and…” He mutters something unintelligible while weakly reaching out for the spectacles resting on Hugo’s face, failing miserably.

“Hey watch it, you’re gonna smudge the lenses.”

“I’m gonna smudge the-“ His words become completely muffled as he buries his face further into his shoulder.

“Yuh-Huh. It’s okay buddy we’ll get you some water.” His cynical tone was followed by a pat on Varian’s glove, and in defeat and tiredness brought on by frustration, all the other boy can do is nod along in agreement.

Nuru doesn’t even get to turn the key before the door opens, the group squinting at the warm light from within, filling the porch with an orange glow. They leer back from the harsh light when it suddenly moves  _ away _ from them, the flame growing dim until they can make out the shape of a lantern... _ and the figure holding it. _

“Good heavens, what are children like you doing out in these parts?”

The group, or at least the most conscious of them, all exchange glances. Even Ruddiger and Prometheus looked a bit wary of the stranger standing in the doorway, a tall man with white facial hair, the hair atop his head slicked back. A maroon waistcoat adorned in golden cuffs and buttons made a good compliment to the roof of the manor, along with a set of plain black slacks. The stranger seems to carry himself with a polite composure, standing up straight while the group racks their heads for answers.

“We...got lost.”

_ “Don’t tell him that!”  _ Hugo hisses under his breath, only to be met with a narrow glare in return.

“Lost you say?” He speaks in a strange cadence, poised and regal. It was hard to tell if it was an accent or just the way he spoke, but it was clearly old and gruff. “Why, I haven’t had anyone get  _ lost  _ for ages!”

“Uh yeah that’s nice... _ Varian get off me.”  _ He says that last part through grit teeth as he backs away from the porch, an unnerving sensation  _ wrenching _ in his gut. If he needed to run, then he couldn’t have an entire  _ person  _ slowing him down. The alchemist obliges, slowly moving away from Hugo as he tries to gain a good footing, his swimming head disorientated from the lantern’s glow.

“Hey...hey I think I….have I seen you before?”

The man raises a brow as the rest of his team looks at the boy in confusion. The inventor is quick to step in, Varian tensing slightly when he rests an elbow on his shoulder. “Ah, he’s delirious. So sorry about that sir.”

“I’m  _ not  _ delirious.” Varian snaps, turning back towards his donkey. “Hey Ruddiger could you look through the supplies and-“ He doesn’t even finish before the thick rodent scurries along the back of Prometheus, reaching towards the bag of supplies hanging over its sides. He fishes around for the desired object, nearly taking a bite from a discarded apple in the process. “Thanks bud.” As soon as the almanac is in his hands- one of the few things that survived the river- he begins to flip through it.

He  _ swears  _ he’s seen his face before, and as he turns page after page, he hardly notices Hugo trying to scoot him away. “Varian, maybe stop bothering the old man and look somewhere el-“

“Yes!  _ Yes yes yes yes yes!” _ That was  _ way  _ too many “yes”s for the inventor’s liking. What was once horror had manifested into his signature excitement, a small chuckle leaving him as he bounds his way up to the porch. “My mom wrote about you! Right here, see?”  
  


_ A series of inventors, alchemists, and like minded individuals all resting within the confines of a manor on the edge of the woods by a watery cliffside. Varian hadn’t gone through the chapter entirely, but what this did mean, was that his mother had gotten turned around in these very words, that she had met this man and whoever else rested within the house. Crude drawings of individual men and women alike fill an entire page, with details on their occupations and other information. _

“Y-You guys must’ve met my mom! This is...this is great!”

“How, exactly?”

“Because,” The bright eyed alchemist gestures to the puzzled man, a grin beaming on his face. “That means one of them has to know what she was like! What she did, and how glorious her inventions were!” He whirls back around to the man, lifting the book up slightly until the estranged man was holding it. After a quick read, what is presumed to be the manor’s owner has a change of face, turning solemn. 

“Your excitement is commendable my dear boy, but…” He hands the thick book back to Varian, his excitement faltering. “I’m afraid it’s  _ just  _ me now. All my other research members…” He clears his throat, the subject very obviously a sensitive one at that. “Perhaps I have met this woman you speak of, or one of my colleagues wrote about her. Usually people tend to  _ stay  _ and become part of our... _ the  _ membership, so to hear of a genius that simply...slipped away from us sounds like something worth documenting.”

“Can I talk to you?” The alchemist doesn’t even get to answer before he’s moved aside by Nuru, letting go of his arm once they’re near the side of the house. 

“Varian,” She starts, trying to withhold any resentment that may spill over in her voice. A set of hands fall upon his shoulders, his calm blue eyes meeting her amber ones. “I  _ know  _ how important it is that you learn about your mother, and if we spend the night here...maybe you will! But remember why  _ we’re  _ here.” 

“I-“ 

Varian pauses, his eyes slowly trailing back over to the front door. He briefly locks eyes with Yong, the small boy still seeming nervous. The light of the evening sun had long since been extinguished, leaving nothing but blue twilight. They came here for shelter, a place to stay for the night, and if they had to, possibly ask for a meal. He didn’t want to invade in on a kind stranger’s home like this, but Yong was the youngest out of all of them, and the untamed wilderness was no comfort for a child. And...Nuru’s situation dawns on him too. A princess in desperate need to help her kingdom from constant cosmic disasters, to find some sort of way to protect  _ her people, her family. _

With a firm nod, he gives her a smile. “Okay.” 

If he could just get any sort of answers  _ tonight  _ then that would be it! It couldn’t be that hard to find some document on his mother if she stayed here, right? And that man sounded bewildered by the fact she  _ left.  _ Was this once an organization so pristine and well regarded that those invited wished to stay on the spot? It must be pretty exclusive then...so why would his mother reject such an opportunity?

“Sorry about that uhm-“ The boy glances to the floor, to his group, then back to the aging man. “Hope this doesn’t sound too rude but...we really need a place to stay for the night and  _ lost a good portion of our rations-“  _ He mumbles that last part into his fist as quickly as possible, letting out an awkward cough after the fact. He rubs the back of his neck, stumbling over his words as he tries to ask a simple question. “I-If we could just... _ stay,  _ for the night I mean j-just one night is all! Then I’d-  _ we-“ _

“Well of course!” It’d be absurd to turn down children who are cold and lost, why not offer empty beds that haven’t been used in years? The man steps aside, gesturing for them to come in. “Oh please do mind some rooms are off limits,” He warns, guiding the group inside. They turn around when they realize that Ruddiger and Prometheus would have to stay outside since they highly  _ doubt  _ the man would allow two animals inside his manor. 

“Uh what do we do about-“

“I have stables in the back!” The man says chipperly, stepping outside to grab ahold of the donkey’s reigns.

“Cool, can we get our stuff first though?”

  
  
  


Charming and elegant doesn’t even begin to describe the manor’s interior. Dark cherry red walls with patterned carpeted floors align the halls, wall sconces installed on either side of them for candles or flowers to be placed. The manor itself was two stories, the above housing the guest rooms while the lower held the main rooms and halls along with the master bedroom. They were first greeted with a shabby, narrow hall as they stepped through the doors, but were soon met with the spectacular sight of a rustic kitchen. Varian’s only seen royalty have some of the assets the man had in his kitchen, although it doesn’t even come close to the one in Corona’s castle. Still, it was quite the feat, and the inside seems far more tidy than its exterior.

With a relieved sigh Varian sets his bags down onto the long wooden dining table, a length that may appear surprising at first, but it was common for these sorts of tables to be at royal parties. Not that he’s been to one, but he’s explored the castle enough times to recall the strangely long dining table that extended beyond even this one. It made sense, this man used to be part of a membership or something akin to that, and probably just wasn’t worth it to replace with a new, shorter table.

“Hey, what did you say your name was again?”

“Oh call me whatever,” The man has his back turned to the group, opening old wooden cabinets as he searches around for a few ingredients. “Doctor, Professor, Scientist...even Mister is fine!”

“That’s not suspicious at all.”

_ “Hugo!” _

“You’ll have to forgive me, it’s been so long since I’ve had guests. I’m a bit…” A sack of flour flops to the tiled floor, the eccentric man offering a smile. “Unprepared.”

The team once again exchange glances, but something calls to the forefront of Varian’s mind. “Hey so-” He pauses, biting his lip and tracing his finger nervously on the wooden table. “If you’re like, this big, genius inventor then...do you happen to uh- have any experiments? Research? Undiscovered numerical algorithms?” He wasn’t sure how to politely put that he wanted to see the man’s work, but how could he not ask? He sounds to be such a great deal, or part of it at least. 

“Sorry hairstripe,” Hugo leans forward, taking the seat next to the alchemist. “But that kind of stuff is for the experts, maybe stay in your own range.”

“Okay  _ Hugo,”  _ Varian gives the taller boy a fake smirk, leaning in towards him. “I’m just gonna give you a quick refresher but uh, my  _ mom _ was here, alright? She met all these astounding inventors and that carries over into  _ me.”  _ He smugly points are himself, shooting the unamused blonde a wink.

“Wow Varian!” The boy exclaims in faux excitement, raising his hands to his cheeks to express such  _ overwhelming  _ shock. “Taking advantage of a dead person’s name! How spectacular!”

_ “Oh Gods,”  _ The Princess bemoans with her head low, face in hand as she awaits the outburst of arguments to ensue, proceeded by getting kicked out of the house after they knock over an expensive vase or something and go back and forth between who’s solution could fix it quicker.

But it never comes.

The only sound is a chair scooting back on the floor, Varian having flinched hard from the piercing words. Almost immediately does the narcissistic smirk fall from Hugo, green eyes widening at the pure  _ shock  _ plastered on the face of his friend. Varian was even paler than he was when he was about to faint, fingers gripping the edges of the seat so tightly his knuckles had most likely turned white.

“Okay backtrack, I uh- I didn’t-“

Just as Varian rises from his chair, ready to silently head to bed and get settled in, the man who goes by “Doctor” and the other aliases stops him.

“Vertigo, was it?”

“Varian.” Even his intrigue with the scientist had dwindled, keeping his gaze directed away from Hugo.

“Your mother was here, was she? She spent the night? Well, if she was as intelligent and skilled as you say, and what might be in the pages of my colleague’s journals, then surely you must be as bright as her!”

“A-Ah thanks but I’m not really-“

“Don’t be so modest my boy!” The alchemist flinches when the man throws an arm over his shoulder, pulling him close. “Come, if you want to see my work, well by all means I can show you!” 

_ “What?”  _ One of the most intelligent people known, or at least from what the almanac said, and he...goes for Varian? Not that he wasn’t intelligent or resourceful, but with the emotional stability of a mop bucket it was at the very least  _ baffling _ to Hugo. He wasn’t going to rub salt in the wound if the professor had chosen him instead to see an experiment, to perhaps be invited into this elite club, that would just be cruel, but again... _ why? _

“I’m an inventor too!” He quickly chimes in, turning around in his seat. “I-I work with technology  _ so advanced you won’t-“ _

“Yes yes, but it’s not your turn to shine, now is it?”

Hugo’s nervous expression falls into  _ intimidation  _ as the doctor glances over his shoulder at the blonde, the chipperness now replaced with...disappointment? Yeah, he’s seen that at least a dozen times from Donella, it was nothing knew. He still slinks back in his seat, something... _ off  _ about the bright green gaze staring him down. It was brighter than his own, a color that reminded him of Varian’s alchemical solutions...the ones that didn’t backfire at least.

When the two start to make their way out of the kitchen, Varian’s voice growing distant as he lists off a few of the solutions he’s created, Yong’s comment falls on deaf ears. “Hey don’t you still have to...cook….”

Minutes pass, and Hugo slumps against the table with a disheartened expression. Nuru, realizing that the two scientists might be awhile since they’d be too busy geeking out over some sort of shiny rock or scientific equation, decided it would be best to prepare  _ something  _ for them, but she would not do it alone.

“You gonna help, charmer?” She isn’t going to say out loud that Hugo’s remark was a low blow...but he kind of deserved that blow to his pride after saying such a thing to his friend.

“Got nothing else to do,” That statement alone made his blood boil. Just what was going on in there that made this guy’s experiments so special? And the question slips out when he reaches Nuru’s side, lazily dumping flour into a bowl. “What’s so special about him anyways?”

“Varian or the Professor?”

The blonde mutters something under his breath as he searches for a spoon. “Hugo, just let him have this, okay?”

“H-Have what!?” The boy in question smacks his head against one of the cabinets, clutching the back of it and rubbing the afflicted area with a wince. “You think I’m  _ jealous  _ that someone with the title  _ royal alchemist  _ gets to gawk at inventions a-and journals full of schematics for some of the most incredible inventions?” He tries brushing it off with a laugh, feeling something wet on his glove. When he pulls it back, he’s not surprised when the scent of copper floods his senses, a dark stain dappled onto the material. 

“You’ve known him longer than I have, just saying.” And now that Hugo got  _ blood  _ on his hand, he can’t help form the dough. “Search around for some fresh vegetables or something, we need to make soup.”

“Are we sure we can’t let the  _ genius scientist _ make us dinner out of ashes with some sort of-  _ amazing _ chemical solution?”

“You  _ are  _ jealous,” The princess can’t help but laugh, handing him a wooden spoon. “At least it looked like you wanted to apologize.”

A frown forms on Hugo’s face, glancing back at the doorway that leads out into the long stretch of hall. That expression on Varian’s face...it rattled him to the core. He was the cause of that, one snarky comment and he had their group’s leader nearly falling apart. Or maybe...more than one snarky comment. Multiple...and so much  _ arguing and blaming and- _

What was the point in seeing such wonders if he wasn’t deserving of them?

“I...gotta apologize,” He murmurs, leaning against the counter with his arms folded. Nuru pauses from grabbing a large pot, her curious golden stare connecting to his. “Falling into that river, it…” 

He digs his heel aggressively into the floor, wanting to kick himself for even trying to blame his partner. They were both to blame, weren’t they? If they hadn’t had a spat about the map then they would’ve noticed that riverbank...now they were lost and any map inside of the manor was most likely old and outdated.

“It really brought out the worst in us, huh?”

“There’s your heart,” Nuru teases, patting Hugo gently on the chest before she begins filling the pot with water. “Knew you still had that thing. Now go on then.”

“Are you sure? I think you might-“

“I’ll do it,” Yong, who had been silently watching the conversation from the table, speaks up, doing his best to help lift the pot back onto the counter despite his height. The princess thanks the young boy with a smile before waving Hugo off with a nod. They could handle this! And if they got it right then everyone could have a nice meal to chat over...so long as the apology went well, that is. “Do we have a recipe book?”

“I know one by heart,” Nuru proudly announces as the inventor slowly strides out of the room.

“Really? What next, what next?”

  
  
  


“Oh gosh, I possibly couldn’t, really.”

“I insist!”

“You’re...sure? I mean-“ He cuts himself off with an awkward laugh, twiddling his thumbs together as the set of tall doors looms over him. “This is your lab, and I know how much they can be a private sanctum for inventors like you-“

“Inventors like  _ us  _ you mean.” 

“Ahaha, yeah,” Varian clears his throat, glancing down at the floor. There was the strangest sensation in the pit of his stomach that fluttered to his chest. He had only just discovered this place tonight but...all the knowledge that rests beyond those doors is far too tempting to leave unopened! “B-But are you...do you  _ really  _ think I have the honor to see? I am honored, don’t get me wrong but...you’re  _ sure  _ I’m the right person?”

“Your mother visited here, did she not?” The Professor already has his hand on the handle, ready to give it a swift pull to reveal his study, his works. “Anyone who is able to be in the presence of our leagues is more than welcome to have their kin follow in their tracks!”

Varian smiles at that, the fluttering nervousness being replaced with warmth. That’s why he was on this journey, to seek the path his mother took, to learn what she did. Maybe she even got to see this place- who was he kidding she probably did just from her intellect alone! He pulls out the almanac once more, flipping to the chapter that had information about the manor.

“Okay, I...I’m ready.”

“Very well, let’s head to it then!”

With that, Varian is guided into a surprisingly large room made entirely from light gray bricks and a smooth stone floor. He shivers at the sudden coolness it brings about, the back of his hair standing on end. Or was that from the electricity…? When he first heard the crackle, it was what drew his attention the most. A copper plated coil connected to a box shaped device had electricity occasionally sparking from it and transferring between two metal rods placed on either side of each other. He wasn’t sure of its use, but it’s best not to touch. 

And as he staggers further into the center, he’s more amazed by the second. Old machines that are still running at this very moment, discarded scraps of metal that resembled a small automaton, beakers and flasks both empty and full with all sorts of various chemicals, displays nailed and hung up on the walls, wether it be a framed sketch or a rock collection. There’s even a shelf filled with jars of herbs and a few completed solutions, all neatly labeled of course. He stiffens when he accidentally bumps into a finely furnished oak desk, books and paper stacked messily on the work space. Charcoal drawings and inked outlines all create unorganized scribblings, the images and words oddly vague despite the man composing them.

“This is...I-“ The alchemist rushes over to whatever fascinates him the most, ranging from high quality lab equipment to the turning gears of ancient machinery. He even spots a music box, the boy curious about the tune it carries but leaving it be out of respect for the scientist. “This is...amazing!”

“Ah I’m glad you believe so,” The man steps further into the room, his gaze focused on the largest piece of decor, a framed painting of a group of men and women hanging on the wall. The man at the front, could easily be recognized as the man before Varian, looking only a few years older than the painting. “It’s...been awhile since I’ve had a like minded individual grace our membership.”

“Well I wouldn’t say that I,” The boy swallows, cheeks turning flush at the praise. As great as this was, he couldn’t take credit for being the  _ only  _ man of science in this manor. “I think Hugo is...pretty talented. Even if we weren’t on great terms earlier he’s...really smart.” Sure, he was more street smart and leaned towards inventions instead of alchemy, but he’s seen Hugo’s gadgets at work and it was impressive stuff to say the least. “Look, maybe he could, if it’s okay with you, maybe….uhm…”

“Sorry did you say something dear boy?”

“Uh no, no it’s fine.” He gives a small wave to the man on the opposite end of the room, paying a lot more intently to the almanac. He had been mindlessly browsing through the pages when something caught the corner of his eye. It was the end to the chapter, to his mother’s stay here, and his face pales as he looks up.

Embedded in the wall, were rows and rows of shelves. Slotted neatly into them were small, wooden skulls, each of them carved perfect and exact, most likely by a machine hidden beneath one of the many tarps littered throughout the lab. There was a noticeable wooden button on the tops of the heads, some of the sockets filled with a ghastly green glow while others remained empty... _ unused.  _

_ It matched the drawing in the almanac, and his mother’s words, strike overwhelming terror into his heart, rooted to the spot as he reads on. _

  
  


_ I truly should’ve known that those remaining were either bastards or hollow shells of what were once good people. I was taken in by one of them after wandering around the woods in a stupor. I was cold, hungry, and I’d never admit this to another soul but, desperate. So I took up their offer and was welcomed with open arms by their so-called leader. Something felt...off. I just couldn’t describe it. _

_ The way their small pupils bore into my soul, that putrid green in the eyes of the organization’s head man, the vague, non specific comments towards me. That scientist guy was one of the only ones who actually seemed to...interact with me. I fell for their praises, I was smitten by all the work they had accomplished and in a stroke of my own pride I revealed a few of my own works too.  _

_ I believed them to be impressed, to consider me one of their own...and oh they did. They practically begged me to join them, and I was tempted to do just that. To be surrounded by those like me and create such wonderful things...but fantasies like that simply don’t exist. I snooped, and although it was in bad faith I saved my own skin that night.  
  
_

_ Something terrible had befallen them. _

_ Their “leader”, the scientist, professor, he wouldn’t give me a damn proper name, has been stealing the minds of his colleagues, trapping away their creativity, intelligence, and wit into a small containment chamber. I saw it with my own eyes, I peered through the cracked open lab door and that bastard just… Well I can’t quite recall, it was all a bit of a rush you see. But the nightmarish green hasn’t left my head ever since that night, and most fowl of all he simply drank from his spoils, as if these human beings’ very minds were just a fine wine to him. _

_ What for? I don’t know. I believe him to be a sham of some sort, a once proud scientist falling on hard times and stealing away the minds of more successful geniuses and passing off the ideas as his own. It’s absurd but...plausible. I wanted to help, good God, I wanted to save these people, but I didn’t know how! I had to worry about saving myself more than risking my life for some...lost cause. So I bolted out those doors, not bothering to look back and not stopping for a single voice as I rushed through. They were all fake anyhow, trained to repeat those same phrases for the new blood, to create a false sense of security. _

_ There were others, ones before of what remained of the group I encountered last night. I’ve seen it in paintings lined throughout the manor, members dwindling as the years go by. There’s a cliffside just a few yards from this dreaded place, and if what I’m hypothesizing is correct, then that means- _

Varian yelps as the almanac is shut by an unknown force, blinking at the aged hand on the cover. It quickly falls to the floor with a hard thud. He stares at it, then back up at the expressionless man, then swiftly reaches for the book, only for a shoe to be brought down on the cover.

“Could I have that back?” His voice cracks once he musters up the courage to actually respond, throat having gone dry. “It’s my mom’s and it’s…uh yeah I’ll just take it back-“

“What’s the hurry, my boy?” There was an almost accusatory tone in the doctor's voice, raising a suspicious brow at the fearful alchemist. “Why keep your head buried in a book when I can show you how to create these marvelous wonders all on your own?”

“I’m just...staying here for the night, m-me and my friends are. Remember? Speaking of I- I need to get back to them so I’m just gonna…” He points over his shoulder with his thumb to the door, keeping his gaze locked on the man.

“Why leave?”

“Uhm-“

“Varian, you are... _ so intelligent.  _ It has been  _ forever  _ since someone with the same intellect as me has come by. What if you were an assistant of mine? A right hand man if you would?”

“That sounds uh,  _ really  _ tempting but I’m already on a mission so-“ He starts to back away slowly, his mind screaming at him to run, to get help. He wanted to scream, to cry out, but he might put his friends at risk of a terrible fate! Even if he wanted to, his throat felt as though it had been stitched shut, and if he stayed here a second longer that might just become a reality.

“Ah, to follow in her footsteps, yes?” The professor grabs the book, holding it up in a single hand, keeping it in plain view for Varian as if taking silent joy in the fact he had the one thing the boy  _ needed _ for his journey. “But that would also mean...running away from the greatest opportunity of your life. Of...taking a coward’s way to science.”

_ “She wasn’t a coward!”  _ Varian tries to find his voice, but comes out as an angered rasp instead. Fear bubbles into rage at that, shakily stepping back towards the man.

“She ran away from her home, and then she ran away from  _ us.  _ If I didn’t know any better I’d say her whole  _ life  _ consisted more of running than the ethics of scientific discovery.”

“Take that back!” The alchemist reaches for the strap on his chest, searching for  _ any  _ intact alchemy spheres that hadn’t dissolved in the river. He feels one, but it’s outer shell was delicate and softened. One wrong move and it could burst. But it didn’t even matter, fingers sliding away from the sleek ball as the scientist inches the corner of the book closer to a lone bunsen burner on the table, its flame flickering tall and proud.

Their intense, angered stares linger for quite some time, the pair at a standstill. If he so much as burnt a  _ corner  _ of that book, he’d charge with no hesitation.

_ “Fine,”  _ The man scowls at Varian, tossing the book to the floor like he had been holding something absolutely vile. It was despicable, for this boy to waste his intelligence on a route to self discovery or whatever flowery life lesson he wished to learn. 

The book slides in the alchemist’s direction, Varian immediately dropping to his knees before clutching it tightly in his hands, swiftly examining the pages to be certain it was still intact. He lifts his shirt briefly to tuck it beneath, not a very practical place but if he could  _ get to his bag  _ and get the hell out of here then…

_ He has to stop this. _

He desperately wants to get to the next kingdom, as do his tired friends, but if they just  _ left  _ this place, then there’d be an endless cycle. Who knows how many years this has went on for, how many inventors, alchemists, and other scientists fell victim to this scheme. He doesn’t know  _ how  _ he’ll put an end to it, but first, it needs to start with a  _ confrontation. _

“You just took interest in me because of my mom, didn’t you?”

He rises to his feet, turning around to leer up at the man who had walked behind him in the time he had went to pick up the almanac. There’s still no distinct expression, but those bright green eyes burn with such a  _ rage and knowing  _ it makes Varian tense just the slightest. But he stands his ground, adjusting the bright orange bandanna around his neck. He’ll fight if he has to, not that he was skilled in that department though. 

“It’s how your whole... _ thing  _ operates. Taking advantage of insecure scientists, discovering their flaws and twisting them to your favor. My mom  _ was  _ smart for leaving you guys...and now,” He reaches for the book, thinking that there might be  _ some  _ solution on how to defeat this intelligence draining maniac. “I’m going to have t-“

It’s just a brief flash, one of the last things Varian gets to process. A small, smooth piece of wood carved into the shape of a skull, a slot now missing one of its pieces from the strange shelf. The moment the button is pressed, the skull’s jaw unhinges.

The sockets of the skull glow a bright green.

_ Varian’s eyes match. _

A swirling, misty green aura exits from between his eyes, the scientist not even phased by the sight, as if he’s done this countless times. The glowing aura is sucked in by the mouth of the skull until it slowly dissipates, the jaws snapping shut and sockets now filled with a swirling neon green. Left in its wake, was a boy standing stiff, his pupils having shrunk to the size of pinpricks while blankly staring out at nothing. Even his expression lacked any true meaning behind it, something akin to shock or a catatonic state.

Varian’s bright green gaze doesn’t even  _ move  _ when the scientist steps beside him, drinking in the silence of the once tense situation. “A shame, really.” There’s no flinching when a hand rests upon his shoulder. “To think I was considering letting you keep your mind if you assisted me...ah well, it’s all the same I suppose.”

And with the smallest shove, Varian  _ drops  _ to the hard stone, the coolness on his skin not even registering. His limp body lays there, wide, unblinking gaze staring at a wall...or whatever was in front of him, since he couldn’t process just  _ what  _ he was staring at anymore.

_ “Be lucky you still know how to breathe,”  _ The scientist mutters, although it wasn’t quite worth it. Varian wouldn’t be able to understand anymore, or anything for that matter. “Perhaps you were right…” His lips draw back into a sneer as hell crouches down, voice nothing more than a harsh whisper. “Maybe your mother escaping was the smartest thing she could’ve done…”

With a pause, he rises back to his feet, tucking the wooden skull into one of the inner pockets of his waistcoat. “But all that simply means is that I’ve misjudged you. You’re  _ dumber  _ than her if that’s the case, and now I’m starting to think that I’ve just  _ saved  _ what little of your mother’s legacy remains...not that you recall her at this point.”

It was like talking to a wall, and as soon as the professor realizes this, he makes his way towards the doors. “I’ll come fetch you in the early morning, I have to make preparations I haven’t forged in years after all.” And as the doors slam shut, the ever crawling hand of time is no help to Varian either.

_ “Varian? Varian!? Look, I want to apologize, can you...come out of whatever room your hiding in? Varian?” _

It could’ve been minutes, or hours, or even days, but he hears a warbled voice pass by the halls, a vague familiarity creeping into his empty mind, only to be snuffed once it grows quiet again.    
  


Breakfast was... _ strange. _

Hugo was clearly weary from searching for the alchemist, having roamed the halls to the point of near madness until he had smacked into a wall. It wasn’t long before he found the manor’s owner, and when he asked of Varian’s whereabouts, he had been told that the boy had taken his slumber. That alone made pity strike his heart, and the professor most likely saw the guilty expression that briefly crossed the inventor’s face.

The man had tried to reassure him that the boy’s early rest was that of nerves, that he was so overwhelmed by the marvels of science that he almost fainted. That...sounded like him. Kind of a letdown though, Hugo was hoping that if they made up then Varian could try and  _ tell  _ him about what resides behind those doors. Now, he awoke with that same straining sensation in his abdomen, wishing Nuru a good morning once they cross paths.

“Doesn’t sound like  _ you’re  _ having a good morning.” Nuru raises her arms in a short stretch as she walks beside the tall boy before letting them fall back to her sides. “I haven’t slept like that in ages.” It was a little dusty, sure, but the comforting downy sheets were oddly immaculate for such an old house.

“You mean a few weeks?” Even with guilt clinging onto him when he shuffled out of bed, his trademark cynicism still resides. Although, it’s quite hard to think of a good comeback when he was beyond tired, his glasses beginning to give him a headache. 

Nuru was the most recent addition to the team, so it hasn’t been that long since she had left her kingdom and her...presumably cozy palace with silk sheets and painstakingly stitched pillows. The princess smirks, giving Hugo a playful nudge with her side. “You try getting an ounce of sleep while your kingdom is in constant panic while on the brink of disaster.”

The thief only offers a short laugh in return, his smile falling after a few seconds. It doesn’t take Nuru long for her to recognize his dejection, the blonde’s head hung low and looking down at the carpet, an unusual contrast to the usually cocky boy.

“I’m guessing your apology didn’t go well?” She winces when she asks, trying to tread lightly about what exactly transpired last night.

“Never got the chance too,” Hugo just shrugs, the pair making their way down to the first floor. There was...an eerie silence. One that makes them linger at the bottom of the stairs for just a moment. What was prevelant, was the scent of  _ food,  _ of something cooking. It wafts through the halls, the entrance to the kitchen just a few yards away. “That scientist guy said he went to bed early. He got “too excited” apparently.”

“Too excited?”

“Well yeah, in case you haven’t noticed he’s the farthest thing from emotionally stable.” Hugo could call Varian a lot,  _ a lot  _ of things, but having a steady method of controlling his emotions? Not so much. Sure, he was a lot more mature, at least from some of the stories Varian told him, but obviously he still needed work.

A teasing smirk spreads on Nuru’s face, turning to face him before very delicately tapping her index finger to the tip of his nose. “Maybe you’re just  _ mad  _ he isn’t as  _ reserved and gloomy  _ as  _ you.” _

“Me? Gloomy? Oh you should’ve heard the things Varian told me, he…” He was about to ramble on about how between the two of them, he was far less gloomy than Varian, that one of them had a whole  _ tragic backstory  _ full of loss and recovery, but the spark in his green gaze diminishes. “Never mind, I think I should just...stay focused.” He takes in a deep breath before exhaling. “Gotta apologize.”

“You’ll have plenty chance to at breakfast.” She could reassure him of that for certain. And if it went well, it wouldn’t end in them flinging food at each other! Or maybe it  _ would  _ be good...if they were just trying to tease one another and not have an all out war at the table. That reminds her, she hasn’t seen a trace of him since they woke up.

“I assume you haven’t seen Varian either, but have you seen Yong?”

“Yong?” Last Hugo saw of him was at the kitchen from last night.

“Yeah, when you didn’t come back we just thought you went to bed.” A frown forms on her face, letting out a quiet huff as she tilts her head up. “And we wasted making a perfectly good meal, by the way.”

Ah, right. With Varian having gone to bed and Hugo too tired to argue about doing the same, Yong and Nuru were left with what was presumably a nicely cooked dinner for everyone. It was a shame it had to go to waste, unless they shared it with the professor that is. It soon strikes Hugo just what that  _ means,  _ and the stomach clenching guilt seems to have entirely negated the sensation of  _ hunger _ . It isn’t until the smell that grows stronger with each step reaches him, the two now standing just outside the kitchen.

“I can’t  _ believe  _ I skipped dinner.” He mutters on about  _ “stupid guilt,”  _ like it was something he could blame instead of his  _ bright idea  _ to wander around the manor in search of Varian until he wore himself out. “But breakfast smells good! Hopefully it’ll make up for thaaa- Okay.”

When they had entered, they were greeted with what would be considered a normal sight. In the half of the kitchen where the supplies and stove rest, is the scientist, cooking away while the sizzling sound of a hot frying pan fills the room. The scent was tempting, but the want of nothing more than to sit down and get a decent meal in so he isn’t light headed by the time they pack was pushed to the back of Hugo’s mind.

“Yong!”

The young boy in question was sitting on the opposite side of the table from them, a row of almost empty seats greeting them. Nuru takes a mental note of how  _ every last chair  _ had a plate and cutlery resting on the corresponding table, as if they were expecting many guests despite there being only five people in the house. But that wasn’t what was the most  _ off  _ about the room, about the  _ tense air  _ surrounding it. It was the forced grin the pyrotechnic expert gave the duo, warily raising a hand in a small wave. His rose colored eyes were wide with concern, but it wasn’t their sudden presence that had set him off.

“Uhm.. _ hey _ …” He spares the briefest glance to his left before shifting in his seat, neatly folding his hands and letting them rest on the table, his nervous grin never leaving him.

_ Until he mouths the words “please help” and his eyes once again flit to the left. _

Taking the hint, their heads slowly turn in the direction Yong’s uneased eyes had faced. Sitting adjacent to the boy at the very end of the table, was a familiar figure. His back was to the kitchen while the doctor cooked away, sitting straight in his seat, wide eyes staring out at the far wall with a smile on his face.

  
  


_ “Hi, I’m Varian!” _

  
  


It’s chipper and enthusiastic in tone, but there’s a distinct lack of... _ something  _ within it. It almost sounds disingenuine, as if those words were something he’s uttered time and time again.

With hesitance, Nuru and Hugo take their seats across from Yong, trying to get sneaky glances at the alchemist. Hugo raises a brow while Nuru does her best to point a finger at him while keeping it hidden from Varian’s sight. The young apprentice’s eyes flick to the left again, only this time, they loom on the figure hunched over the stove, still tending to whatever meal is being heated over the frying pan. Had the man not heard them come in? Surely he must have heard them speak, so perhaps he’s just busy with his cooking.

“He’s been doing that since I got here.” There’s a tremble in Yong’s voice, not having spoken about it until now, until he has the  _ safety  _ of someone he could put his trust into. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Varian, he could always rely on him! In fact he idolized the young man to a degree, wishing to be similar in vein to him. But...once he walked through those doors and gave a gleeful greeting to the alchemist…

_ It’s all he’s been saying. _

_ Any question, comment, all met with the same parroted response, never turning his head towards him, just...staring out into a sea of vast nothingness. _

_ Yong has never been afraid of Varian, not once during this whole adventure. _

_ But there was something so unsettling about his mannerisms right now. _

Hugo leans back in his seat as his green eyes search the alchemist again. It looks like he hasn’t moved from that spot... _ has he even blinked yet? _

“He probably got so excited by the doctor’s inventions that his head just...sparked out.” That was a good way of putting it. Sometimes when the mind gets so overwhelmed it can lead to...odd effects. He can only presume that Varian must have indeed fainted on his way to bed, because it was the only  _ normal  _ circumstance as to why he was doing this.

“I don’t think that’s it, Hugo…”

Nuru shakes her head at his theory, no matter how plausible it was. The girl now has a look of mild worry on her face, keeping herself facing towards Hugo. She...didn’t want to look at his eyes again. Something is so  _ strange  _ about just how small the pupils were. And she was no stranger to the expression, one of complete blankness, of the mind refusing to process or cope with the  _ devastation  _ surrounding them...she’s seen it in her people far too many times after disaster struck, so to see  _ those eyes  _ paired with a smile, made something  _ dreadful  _ flutter in her chest.

“Alright then,” Hugo mumbles, tightly gripping a wooden spoon. He narrows his eyes at the boy, an anger beginning to stir within. What  _ reason  _ did Varian have for doing this? If it isn’t from him having a mental overload, then...what? Could this be intentional? Some kind of  _ ploy, an act  _ so that he could get some sort of revenge on the inventor?

“Cute prank, V,” Hugo raises his voice ever so slightly from the hushed whispering from earlier, speaking with the utmost confidence. He fidgets with the spoon, using a finger to balance one end while the other sways on the table. One thing he  _ knows  _ will get Varian’s attention, is whenever Hugo  _ specifically  _ referred to him as “V.” “But you’re kinda scaring Yong over there and I  _ wanted to apologize  _ so you can drop this...whatever it is now.”

_ “Hi, I’m Varian!” _

“Hugo he w-won’t listen…” The youngest of the group nervously taps his fingers together, keeping his gaze downwards. Every time Varian  _ spoke  _ made a shivering chill crawl along his spine, trying to keep his panic at bay.

The confidence  _ drains  _ from Hugo’s face, eyes visibly widening as he lets the spoon he was toying with mere moments ago fall to the table. “Varian,  _ pal-“  _ He doesn’t do a good job of hiding the waver in his chuckle, a slow sense of fright starting to creep in. “You can stop that now, seriously.  _ You’re freaking us out.”  _ It takes him quite the force to use the word “us”, implying,  _ admitting  _ that Varian’s little trick was having an effect on him, whether or not it was the desired reaction.

“Do you think maybe one of his solutions went wrong?” Nuru whispers. It was possible that Varian could have wanted to  _ create  _ in such a highly esteemed lab, and, not knowing how to operate the more elaborate chemicals, caused... _ an accident.  _ “S-So if that’s the case then maybe it’ll wear off! It could just be a temporary thing.”

“Temporary?” Hugo’s matched whispering is more harsh in stark contrast to hers. “You realize if it isn’t gone by the time we have to leave then we won’t  _ have  _ a group leader! Not to mention if he did do something stupid, and let’s get real,  _ probably did,  _ then the scientist would’ve made something to counter it, right?”

“I…” Nuru pauses, taking his words into consideration. She chews at her bottom lip in thought, her golden eyes leaving his briefly until looking back towards him. “So why didn’t-“

The princess swallows back a sharp cry as  _ something  _ falls to her plate, whirling around to look up at the figure before them. It was the man, smiling down at the two young travelers, interrupting their discussion. “All that chat will just make you hungrier,” He tsks as he transfers the contents of the pan onto the plates, a clumpy yellow mush with colorful bits looking far than appetizing.

It had a decent smell to it, clearly some kind of egg based food. It looks to have diced bits of vegetables and meat thrown in, not an odd combination per say, but the rising tension in the kitchen did  _ not  _ increase their desire to eat. In fact, Hugo’s hunger pangs from earlier have all but disappeared, an unrelenting fear trying to claw its way to the surface.

_ Something was wrong. _

He could tell from the way Varian carries himself like a broken record, constantly skipping the same phrase over and over in an endless loop whenever someone so much as looks at him for too long. He could  _ tell  _ from the small whimper that finally escapes Yong as he’s handed his own serving of breakfast, clearly frightened of the man as much as he was for the alchemist. 

“Varian, would you mind fetching that book I left in my study?”

Silence falls upon the group, holding their breaths as they brace themselves for the same, automated response. It was the first time the doctor had spoken to Varian this morning, Yong could attest to that. It seems as though they were both up before anyone else, and Yong, despite being the youngest, rose out of bed the earliest for a good start...only to have it taken from him in just a few words.

“Oh-Kay!” He doesn’t even bother to back out of his chair as he stands, letting it scoot back when he moves from the seat. The smile forms into a grin when he agrees to assist the doctor, cocking his head to one side before walking off in a  _ deliberate  _ path. The trio at first had to overcome the shock that Varian had said something  _ other  _ than a simple greeting, their nervous eyes peering towards the scientist.

“He didn’t...get to eat. You didn’t even put anything on his plate.”

“Ah he ate last night!” The professor sets the pan off to the side of the stove as he makes his way back towards it, leaving the three of them more puzzled than anything. He reaches for a lone dish towel hanging limply from a metal peg in the wall, wringing it over his hands to clean them. “Said that your cooking was divine, Miss Nuru.”

“Varian wasn’t in the kitchen last night,” Nuru quickly objects to that  _ blatant lie,  _ frustration stoking within her. Why is he immediately trying to make some...cover story? “Me and Yong were actually upset when nobody came to try it.”

“And you said Varian went straight to bed,” Hugo sneers at the man, leaning back in his seat and propping his legs up on the table, as if it were a  _ challenge _ to the manor’s owner. He crosses his arms, the man’s bright green stare colliding with his own. “You didn’t say a  _ word  _ about him going to the kitchen, you  _ said  _ he was going to  _ pass out  _ from all the excitement.”

“Pardon his manners,” Nuru clears her throat, brushing back part of her short dark hair. “He gets  _ so  _ irritable when he doesn’t use the bathroom in the morning.”

_ “What?”  _ Hugo casts a sharp glare at the nonsensical statement. He didn’t need to be relieved to still be this cynical and unamused, she knew that all too well. 

“Why don’t you find the  _ restroom, Hugo.”  _ The princess flashes a forced grin at him, the last words spoken through grit teeth. 

“Hey I d-“ He’s about to deny the out of nowhere claim, to defend his dignity over an honestly embarrassing lie, until he picks up on what she  _ actually  _ means.

Hugo makes an effort to visibly roll his eyes in front of everyone, aggressively shoving his chair back into the table. “First of all, you might be princess in  _ your  _ kingdom but uh, I don’t take orders.” He waves her off as he steps towards the kitchen’s doorway, a relaxed smile on his face. “But uh- I’m gonna do it anyway. Of my own free will. On  _ Hugo’s _ volition.” He points to himself with a prideful smirk, strutting confidently out of the room until he’s partway through the hall.

Once he’s  _ sure  _ he’s far enough, he breaks into a light jog, glancing over his shoulder. No sign of anyone there… He turns his head back and just  _ barely  _ knocks over into Varian, skidding to a halt with the pair right outside a set of doors. There was this... _ crackling  _ sound, muffled and distorted through the thick varnished doors. So, this must be the fabled laboratory the man spoke so highly of. But such mysteries don’t concern Hugo in the slightest anymore.

“V-“ In his rush he hadn’t fully taken in what Varian was  _ doing,  _ and the sight of him leaning against the door,  _ pressing  _ against it while the tips of his boots scraped against the wood with each step that took him  _ nowhere  _ causes him to do a double take. He‘s...walking in place, as if unaware of the obstacle in front of him. “...Varian?”

The inventor chokes back a scream as the other boy’s head whips toward him at an ungodly speed, those wide, blank eyes boring into his soul. He supposes this is the best chance he has, now that they were both alone.

“Look, I-I’m sorry,  _ okay?”  _ There most likely isn’t a lot of  _ time  _ on their hands, and once Hugo was gone for long enough that man will start to grow suspicious. He places his hands on his shoulders, moving him to face in his direction rather than the door. It’s... _ hard,  _ to make eye contact given how off putting his stare is, still wondering just  _ how  _ he’s been keeping them like that for so long. “About what I said last night and about…” 

He closes his eyes, a short sigh leaving him, face scrunching up in mild contempt as he recalls his shoddy behavior from yesterday. “About what happened at the river, and... _ after  _ that. Everyone was upset, and we all lost a  _ lot  _ of supplies. But we’re  _ lucky  _ to still have the map and even  _ luckier  _ to have that almanac. I-I’m not even gloating over the fact that the place you picked for us to stay for the night is completely creepy!” Surely that is a testament to how sorry he is, right?

Varian’s expression doesn’t change, his eyes still focused on something  _ past  _ Hugo, despite their eyes staying locked through the entirety of his apology. “I’m glad you met someone like you-“ He fights back the urge to wince given just how  _ unsettling  _ that scientist had become in such a short span of time. “And I know it means a lot to you to find out about your mother, but...we have to go,  _ now.  _ Somethings wrong with this place, with that  _ guy,  _ so if this is an act to get me to... _ apologize,  _ to scare the hell out of everyone, then here! Here it is! Just... _ please,  _ can we go?”

The pleading look in his wet eyes was  _ genuine _ , concern tracing his features. They couldn’t stay another minute, they had to get out of the manor, get to the stables, and  _ go _ . He doesn’t care about the cloudy gray sky outside, about the lack of warm sunshine, he’d rather face harsh winds and cold temperatures than spend another  _ moment  _ being in such a dangerous place.

“...Varian?”

The shorter boy simply turns, and faces the door, his vacant stare finally blinking, much to Hugo’s surprise.

His next words are still chipper, the exact same tone as all the other times he’s spoken, filled with fraudulent joy and lacking the proper warmth for it to even be considered real.

“Could you help me?” He raises a hand,  _ slowly _ . His gloved finger points to the door just inches from his face, the tip of the black material grazing against its surface. 

Heat forms between the blonde’s cheeks, a shameful rage from Varian refusing to give a proper response. He hisses through his teeth, hands clenching into fists before his tense shoulders relax. “Help you with what? The...door….” He was ready to assist in a rather passive aggressive way, to give in to Varian’s little stunt until he decides when to actually  _ accept  _ the apology, but…

It clicks for Hugo the moment Varian snaps his head back towards him, his body unmoving as he cocks his head far,  _ far  _ to the side, another unsettling grin forming on his face.

_ “Help me.”  _

It was spoken through grit teeth, and beneath the layer of happiness was an  _ urgency _ , just the faintest  _ hint  _ of a whimper.

_ Varian isn’t doing this on purpose. _

_ Something awful happened. _

Hugo hardly registers his hand reaching for the handle, taking in a ragged breath as he uses what feels like all the force in his body to pull it open, eyes never leaving Varian. He steps back when the dark haired boy wants to be let through, his blank stare no longer on Hugo, but rather the inside of the lab.

_ Varian’s eyes were never green. _

They were a lake blue, with an intense range of emotion from sass, to energetic, to pure distress. But here, the bright green had drained all the emotion away just the same as the color draining from Hugo’s face upon the revelation. Something happened last night, that doctor  _ did something  _ to his friend! They had to get out right this instant, not another soul could befall the same fate the poor alchemist had been given. But...he had to fix him, right?

_ Didn’t he? _

_ His goal was to stop him, to carry out Donella’s orders. And here, the alchemist’s journey has been put to a pause...one that could be permanent. _

He could leave Varian, take the others with him, somehow  _ convince them _ that this was his true dream, that he would stay behind while Hugo lead them astray. The mission would be over, Varian would never reach his goal and perhaps Donella would reward him  _ greatly  _ if he exaggerates on just  _ how  _ he brought about the boy’s downfall.

_ He has the chance. _

The blonde blinks out of his thoughtful stupor at the sound of metal grinding against stone until it transforms into a soft scraping, Varian coming out with the almanac in one hand, and an old dingy shovel in the other.

“What are you doing?”

“Preparing!” With that Varian walks right past Hugo, paying him no mind whatsoever.

“The doctor said he just wanted the book.” Wait, why  _ did  _ he want the almanac?

It’s the same response yet again, although a bit more distant and drowned out by the dragging of the shovel.  _ “Preparing!” _

“Preparing for what?” Hugo grips Varian’s wrist, preventing him from taking another step further. The alchemist stops upon being touched, but doesn’t turn to face his friend. Hugo swallows, struggling to steady his breathing, the once cocky boy now to near shambles at the looming threat of a deranged man claiming the rest of them. He glances down, eyes lingering on the tightly clenched almanac before he cautiously reaches for it.

His heart races as he plucks the book from Varian’s hand with ease, the boy letting his arm fall limp at his side. He’s relieved at the lack of a reaction, although he isn’t quite certain he’s out of the woods yet. He keeps a firm hand on the dark haired boy’s shoulder while flipping open the book, hoping to find something relevant to this creepshow.

As he browses to the desired chapter, green gaze set on the old ink, something makes him look back to the other boy in shock.

It’s faint, just a subtle, barely audible whimper, the blank shell standing before him having changed ever so slightly in appearance. It’s his eyes, more precisely the scleras, the blanketed white now turned a soft green, the faintest traces of blue flowing back into his pupils.

_ “...hu...go…” _

“Varian? I-“ His face contorts into desperation, gnawing at his bottom lip as he frantically combs through the entry for  _ any  _ sign of what happened to the poor boy. There is a hint that he was coming back, trying to break through the spell that has his mind bound to this house. When Hugo finally finds the page adorned in unsettling drawings of skulls with bright green eyes and an entry beside it, he quickly skims through.

“Okay, okay! Says here that…” He reads in a frenzy, Varian blinking once before his stare returns back to white with harsh green pupils. He can feel him move, the inventor having no choice but to grip onto the fabric of his shoulder to keep him from taking another step. “I-It wears off!”

He isn’t aware of the smile that spreads over his face, of the sheer relief releasing in his pounding chest. There was a way to fix all this! But as he continues, his temporary joy comes to a halt. “If the body is disposed of, then their mind remains trapped within its confines forever…”

The shovel now made sense. Amidst the tense silence Hugo  _ jumps  _ when a crackle of thunder booms from outside, the wind picking up in its mournful howls while Varian remains unreactive. He saw the alchemist fight it, saw him try to reclaim his stolen mind! But how? Hugo must have done  _ something  _ to help spur on the faintest flash of a memory. Perhaps there was some kind of trigger he could activate that would help him to remember?

Unfortunately, the sound of brooding thunder had been drowned out by rushing footsteps, the inventor’s fearful eyes set on an enraged man charging towards them. The blonde has to act fast, moments away from being captured and doomed to the same fate as his team leader. Making a quick swap, he pries the shovel from Varian’s hands before shoving the almanac into his chest.

“Hold that,  _ please.”  _

He raises the dingy tool once the scientist is close enough, swallowing hard as determination replaces the hidden fear. The man stops as the rusted spade is pointed at him, stepping back. Hugo  _ has  _ to be careful. If this man had one of those skulls on him, then he’d have to swing blindly so his mind doesn’t get taken. 

“Not a step closer.” It comes out as a demand, the following question revealing a growl in the back of his throat. “Where are the others?”

“They’ve fallen asleep.” His answer is so mundane it nearly caught Hugo off guard. He keeps his shovel pointed at him though, shifting on his feet each time the man tries to circle him.

So he drugged the food, eh? Thank god he didn’t try any of that stuff, but now  _ all  _ of his teammates were incapacitated to some degree. He glares daggers at the doctor, the old man’s eyes just as filled with heated  _ rage  _ as his.

“Wh-What?” He almost lets a laugh bubble up from his throat, the escalating peril starting to fester its way into his head. He has to keep his mind clear and sharp though, so he swallows it down. He pushes back the urge to be chased, to laugh at danger because he’s escaped it  _ so many times  _ that it was almost a joke to him. But he would not be leaving with any sort of riches on this foggy morning. What he had to do, was  _ survive and defeat.  _

“You gonna...try and find my flaws? Try and get into that oh so special place in my icy black heart?” He flashes a grin, side stepping in front of Varian. “Nice try, but I’m not as vulnerable as you think. You’re not gonna get me to crack by telling me what I already know.”

The man’s reply has Hugo floored, the shovel nearly falling from his grip.

“Of course. How do you think minds like us make it through such a pitiful, dumb world?”

The blonde’s mouth goes dry, tensing as he accidentally bumps into Varian. “I-I...that’s not true!”

“It’s why I chose the alchemist over  _ you,  _ I saw that you knew what you had to do in order to prop up your accomplishments. Belittling other creative minds and the  _ competition _ surrounding you until they are  _ certain  _ that their intellect was a meager lost cause is how we claw our way to the very top and  _ stay  _ there as it should.”

No that...couldn’t be. He was nothing like this guy! He...He’s just been... _ taking advantage of Varian’s insecurities to fuel his ego. _

It was everything.

From when they first met, to their bickering, to the incident at the river. Hugo  _ always  _ tried to prove himself better than Varian, to show to the world that a lowly thief had better and more innovative inventions than some former traitor to his own kingdom. It was his ego, his  _ pride and dignity,  _ if he couldn’t prove himself to Donella in person then he’d have to find  _ someone else  _ to look better in comparison to.

Hugo looks over his shoulder at the blank stare looking through him.

_ It’s his fault. _

In the single moment Hugo had cast his head to look over his shoulder the doctor had reached out his arms in an attempt to subdue him. He quickly swipes from the attack, a short gasp leaving him. He hears a  _ frustrated  _ sound emanate from the man, lunging towards Hugo yet again only to collide with the carpeted floor.

The blonde huffs when something swift hits his ankle, tripping to the floor while his knuckles and knees scrape against the carpet. He hisses, shovel still in hand and more than likely getting a few splinters. His eyes widen when the man lurches forward before he can even think to get up, grabbing the length of the shovel and pushing  _ down,  _ Hugo’s back against the carpet. He grimaces, squirming beneath him and desperately trying to push the shovel  _ back.  _ He rears his leg back and gives a sharp kick to the gut, sending the man to relent his grasp.

The blonde scrambles to his feet moments before the doctor does, and in a surge of panic, of a rush of intensity that has his mind black out, he does the first thing he can think of.

There’s a light  _ thunk  _ when the shovel’s back strikes the man on the back of the head, a cry escaping Hugo as he swings. The man collapses to his hands and knees, a patch of red beginning to form amongst the balding white hairs. He doesn’t bother to think on the fact that he just  _ hit someone  _ with an entire shovel, opting to take this moment and not let it fall from his grasp.

Shovel in one hand and Varian’s gloved grip in the other, he drags him along, rushing into the kitchen. He catches a glimpse of his unconscious friends slumped limply in their seats as he makes a getaway for the front doors, knowing he’ll have to come back for them. But if he could just  _ keep that guy away from Varian,  _ to let the wooden skull’s time run out and get his mind back, then he could properly perform a rescue. A pang of guilt,  _ selfishness  _ crosses him as he pushes himself to keep moving, shoes slamming against the floor and growing heavier with the weight of panic beginning to take its toll.

“Get to the stables!” He practically screams it as they burst through the door, curving the side of the house and out onto an open sloped clearing against a cloudy gray sky. A graying set of stables awaited them, the wood dark and looking to be nearly on the brink of collapse. He can feel the blood rush through his ears, the sound of the crashing ocean waves growing closer only worsening it, knuckles turning white from his tight grip on the alchemist’s wrist as they stumble to their main source of hope.

If they had Prometheus, they could possibly outrun the man. In fact, he’s counting on it. If they lured him into a chase, into those dense misty woods, then they could have a chance of coming back around for their other friends while Varian’s mind would be freed. But...would that work? The doctor was intelligent, and his feats make it sound as though he wouldn’t be swayed by such tricks. 

Hugo lets go of Varian once he reaches the entrance to the stables, a large build that hasn’t been kept up in years creaking against the harsh winds. The inventor huffs, hastily taking off his glasses that were far too fogged from panicked breaths and glum weather to be useful. He braces himself, slamming his side hard against the stable doors, giving way immediately. He stumbles into the dark shed, soil and hay lining the inside floors. Grayness pools in from the darkness, considered a “light” despite the lack of sun at the moment. And in this light, he spots a donkey that couldn’t have a care in the world while his raccoon friend happily scratches his back against a support beam.

He thinks he hears something among the raging wind, but rules it out to just be the open wooden doors slamming against the inside walls. He heads over to the stable Prometheus was being kept at, fidgeting with a device attached to his wrist to bust the lock. He winces and vigorously shakes his hand when a heated shock rushes through his skin, the device simply shooting out sparks of electricity before fading away. It must have gotten damaged in the river, rendering it useless until fixed or replaced.

_ “Great,”  _ Not having much time, Hugor tightens his grip on the shovel, raising it high into the air before bringing it down onto the corroded lock. It takes another hit or two, but the already worn metal clatters to the ground in two pieces, the stable door slowly creaking open. The inventor grips the reins on Prometheus, steadily guiding him outside while Ruddiger joins them. The donkey is at first reluctant to trek into such strong winds, but with a tug and a bit of coaxing Hugo manages to get them out.

“Okay Varian, get on we have-“ Upon turning around after guiding the mule and raccoon outside, the other boy is nowhere in sight. Or at least, for a moment it seems.

With cheeks turning a flushed red from the lack of warmth in the dropping temperature, his bleary vision scans the area, coming to a rest just a hundred yards or so away from the stables. The first noticeable thing, was the tree. A dark blob in Hugo’s obscured vision, but one that stood right on the very edge of the cliffside. It was fully grown and surprisingly healthy despite its odd placement, full of leaves and winding branches, a tangle of bare roots dangling from out of the sheer drop in the earth’s surface.

But that isn’t what sends him running, oh no. It was the two figures walking towards the tree, towards the cliff and the  _ vast stretch of water hundreds of feet below.  _ As he runs closer, the images grow clearer of the blank boy alongside the maddened doctor, Ruddiger scampering in his trail while Prometheus roots himself to the spot so as not to fall over and be swept away by a windy channel.

Hugo shouts out the boy’s name, hoping to be heard over the wind that blows at his blonde locks, nearly slipping on a patch of soil. He staggers ahead, the pair now standing to the side of the tree, Varian at the cliff’s very edge while the doctor leans against the trunk.

“V-“

_ “I wouldn’t step any closer, boy.” _

In the man’s hands is the sacred almanac that means the world to the alchemist...if he had his mind that is. The boy was just a few steps away from meeting an ugly fate, Hugo glad he tucked his glasses away. When he got a peek down the cliff he could see the foaming white waves crashing along the rocky bottom of the cliff, strange shapes jutting out each time the waves reeled back. He didn’t need a closer look to know they were a mix of bones and tattered fabric, souls lost to the waters while their creative minds remain trapped.

“Varian-“

“Ah, Varian,” When Hugo dares to reach a hand out, all it takes is one command for the boy to step closer, his gaze not even fixed at what awaits him below, just a set of vacant green eyes looking out into a wall of mist.

The other boy stops when the silent threat is made, agitation clear on his face. 

“Just give up now. Your odds are so slim that to fight would be to deny the path set ahead.”

“You call this a path?” He seethes, holding up the shovel as a silent warning. The doctor gives a silent warning back, saying the boy’s name yet again. This time, loose dirt crumbles beneath the tips of his shoes, cascading down the cliffside and into the tide. Another step and Varian’s journey would come to an end.

And...that’s what Hugo wants, isn’t it?

He had been ordered by Donella, made a  _ promise  _ to her that the alchemist would not reach his goal. He relaxes ever so slightly, forest colored eyes focusing on the figure with his back turned to him. Varian didn’t even  _ care,  _ or whatever this shell of a body was. Even the wind didn’t seem to phase him. He could  _ push  _ him and this would all be over. Yong and Nuru were unconscious, and to easily convince them he couldn’t save their leader in time would be  _ so easy _ .

_ It was all just too easy. _

No.

If Hugo wants to stop Varian, he wouldn’t do it like  _ this.  _ He wouldn’t give into the sick  _ game  _ this fraud of a scientist has been playing for years. He wouldn’t take this default win, especially with the odds stacked against Varian  _ for  _ him. He wasn’t going to let someone else take the credit and praise, and... _ he couldn’t let a friend perish.  _ No matter how much Varian grated him, the alchemist was growing on him. This was just an easy way to victory, a way to get rid of a close friend like it doesn’t mean anything.

_ It means something, right? _

In a swift move he hauls Varian back, fingertips grazing against the orange bandanna around his neck in a grasp that almost slips through his fingers. He pulls him back while the man says his name, the boy trying to step closer before Hugo wraps and arm around his waist as a form of restraint.

“Varian!” He cries, hoping that he could hear him...that he could  _ listen. _

_ “Varian,”  _ The tone in the deranged man’s voice is sing song like, an unsettling warning hidden beneath the fake friendliness. “You know what to do.”

Varian lurches forward, only to be brought back by a struggling Hugo. “Varian I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have been so rough on you like that a-and I could’ve been a better friend! And that’s what I’m trying to do! So right now I need you to-“

A scream leaves the taller boy as he’s hauled back,his side hitting the hard wood of the trunk. He groans, dropping to his knees and caressing a hand over his ribs. Something  _ stung  _ within him, sniffing back the faint scent of copper lingering in the back of his throat. 

“No...Varian-“ He  _ crawls  _ only a foot before having to pause again, pain seething through his abdomen. “Fight it Varian, please!” There’s no attempt to mask the desperation, eyes wide as he can only watch the boy inch closer to a steep drop into the cold abyss.

“You’ve done your part.” The man steps in front of Hugo, a string of soft “no”s leaving the injured boy. The doctor’s bright green gaze remains locked on his latest subject, so close to another claim at untapped potential. “Just a few more steps, a  _ jump _ , and you’ll have completed your mentorship with me.”

“Don’t listen to him V-“ The back of the man’s heel clashes with the inventor’s cheek, cupping a gloved hand over his sore mouth. He has to do  _ something,  _ one final act that could determine this outcome. His heart practically leaps out of his chest as Varian prepares to jump with an empty smile, the blonde springing from the ground to tackle the man.

It causes a chain reaction, the man falls to the ground with the boy’s arms clinging to his legs, and in turn, he bumps into Varian, who staggers back before landing on his hands and knees. Hugo extends his arm, pain soaring through it as he climbs over the scientist, ripping the almanac from his hands and rolling back over. He takes in deep, ragged breaths, a cloud of steam falling from each exhale from the cold air. He curls up, clutching the book tightly in his arms, not relenting even when the man tries to kick it out from his grip. 

With a growl he lays onto his stomach, one hand propping him up while the other reaches over the cliff’s edge, almanac in hand. His eyes  _ burn  _ into the man’s, Hugo swallowing after gulping for air. It’s the only leverage he has, and while he wouldn’t cast it into the waters to be lost forever, the threat of it left the two at an impasse.

“You think we’re matched?” A short nod has Varian back to where he was, standing at the edge. 

The blonde’s grip on the almanac trembles, blood coursing through his veins and heart pounding on deciding what he should do. Varian would jump either way, but this man wanted the almanac badly. He could see it in his eyes, to read from the secrets the book held and keep them to himself, or perhaps search for the missing mysteries within to further his reputation. So all he can do, is keep his arm extended out, the cold and tiredness being the only things keeping him from having a steady chance.

There’s...not much he can do as he’s rolled onto his back with a nudge from the scientist, taking in a quick breath while keeping his arm out. It hurts to have it in such an odd position, but he would  _ not  _ let the almanac fall, for himself, and for Varian. For his friends. 

_ “Gah!”  _ He cries aloud when he feels pressure on his chest, Hugo quickly reaching at the man’s ankle. Panic enters him when he feels himself slip ever so slightly, quickly digging his fingers back into the hard soil just to keep a good grip. He thought his troubles were over, that he’d be given temporary relief when the man moves back, but the hand now clenched around his neck proves otherwise.

He kicks at the ground, dirt and grass flinging up as the pressure only grows more intense, coughing and sputtering. His eyes search for the alchemist, his stare still looking blankly out at the stretch of water. 

“Varian…” He rasps, wheezing to even get a single lungful of air in. He can feel his grip on the almanac begin to fade, his breathing growing more rapid as he tries to get air, tries to think of a way to get this damned scientist off of him.

Hugo’s plan had worked.

He didn’t threaten to toss the almanac over the side just to piss off a crotchety old man, he did it to salvage his friend’s memory. Making the man angered was just a bonus, even if he had grown violent and was helpless to do anything lest he risk falling off the edge. Slowly, Varian’s head turns, bought time working in both their favor. Upon the sight of the almanac in a further loosening grip, he blinks, the soft green returning to the whites of his eyes.

“Wait...don’t….” He sluggishly reaches out a gloved hand despite being several feet from them. “It was... _ her….” _

“What the  _ hell  _ are you saying?” The scientist ceases his attack on the other boy to snarl at the alchemist, giving Hugo just enough time to take in a deep breath before pulling himself back to his feet. A coughing fit fills the windy air, shuffling back from the old man trying to close in on him. He just had to keep this up a little longer, so that Varian could be free and-“

The book is tossed into Varian’s hands seconds before Hugo ducks, his body jerking at the sudden pain from having to move so quickly. It could’ve gone worse, because the shovel’s spade now embedded in the tree trunk would have easily been a part of him if he hadn’t dodged in the knick of time. 

“H...Hugo?” Varian’s voice just barely breaks over the wind, watching the tussle between the two go down but not actually processing it. But...there’s  _ something.  _ It feels as though something has been planted in his gut and is now shooting up at a rapid pace, the petals blooming in his throat. It’s a tingling sensation in the back of his head, something ancient and primal that has been expressed since the dawn of time.

For the first time in hours,  _ fear  _ is the first emotion that flickers into the alchemist’s empty mind. Fear not for himself, for the fact he was standing on the edge of a cliff, but rather, when the doctor tackles Hugo, the pair falling into the nest of wiry roots hanging out on the cliffside that ranged in thickness and length. The precarious “net” that cradles them to safety would not last. As old and tangled as the roots were, they would not hold their weight for long.

The blonde coughs as dirt and thinner roots collapse down onto his face, spitting at the foul taste of dry dirt and sand. He glances up, a brief hope filling his eyes as Varian  _ watches  _ them. He’s never been more excited to see someone so full of  _ terror  _ in his life, Varian’s mind slowly but surely starting to return to him.

_ “You,”  _ The scientist clutches his arm as he crawls forward, the blonde trying to properly weave his way through the roots so as not to be caught. A root snags on his ankle, jerking slightly before his hand slips, more dust falling from the roots as his arm falls between a hole in the earthy mess.  _ “I will not be interfered with anymore!”  _

Hugo has seen many hateful stares from guards, crooks, and even people he’s just seen on the pathways, but  _ this _ was unlike anything he’s recalled. Pure visceral  _ rage  _ was directed at the boy through a fiery green gaze, a determination to complete his goal, to  _ kill if he has to,  _ just to remain one of the most renowned scientists despite not having spoken to a soul in years. Hugo tries to pry his arm free, becoming more frantic as the old man inches closer, not caring about the roots scratching at his face and the dirt getting in his hair. 

He tries to use the device on his glove again, to get it to activate, only for another shock to make him cry out again, gritting his teeth as that final bout of pain is the one that makes him collapse. He doesn’t have time to take a moment to rest and breath, doesn’t have  _ time  _ to acknowledge that he’s going to  _ fall  _ if he doesn’t move, or meet an even worse fate. Yet his body screams at him for a moment of relief, to process the pain in his side, knees, and the soreness in his throat.

He parts open his mouth to say something, to get in one final word with a cold stare, only to cough up a bit of blood, warm copper tingling on the back of his tongue. Hugo’s entire being tenses when a set of hands are wrapped back around his neck, green eyes boring into his wavering ones. Through choked gasps and coughs he raises his free hand, weekly trying to push the man off, only to fail miserably. His legs reflexively kick back, tears flooding his eyes as the air depletes from his chest, the thick red liquid staining his chin.

With his single struggling breath he summons as much strength as he can to knee the man in the gut. It was brief, but he had thrown him off with the sudden hit. And he didn’t waste another second. He kicks again, to get that horrid man off of him, gripping at one of the roots above him while he desperately kicks away, even through thick masses of roots he continues to pound his boots against the man in any way he can, missing a few times but landing a good blow or two. The best of roots shake around them with each movement, Hugo starting to use his kicks more sparingly to save energy and so as not to collapse the roots holding them from a steep fall. When he finally feels his trapped arm give, he inches his way towards the man, reaching out a gloved hand.

“Fucking... _ give it!”  _ He lunges forward, feeling hands claw and pound at his wrists as he digs into the inner waistcoat, the green glow of the wooden skull’s eyes having given away its hiding spot. With trembling rage, coldness, and pain, he yanks the little wooden trinket out, the scientist diving for him in a final effort to take the inventor down.

The knotted system of roots finally give out beneath the both of them.

Hugo cries aloud as dirt fills his eyes, the stream of tears continuing, trying to blink away the horrid sensation. As he tries to rub at them he feels the small trinket in his grasp slip, crying aloud as it nearly falls into the depths.

_ “No!” _

He practically screams it as he moves forward, clasping the thing between both hands, his heart lurching when he feels his body shift, beginning to  _ descend. _

He shuts his eyes tight as he slips, expecting to  _ fall and fail. _

A thick, sturdy root jutting our from the cliff  _ snags  _ on the back of his shirt collar, piercing a hole through the fabric. There’s an irritating feeling on the back of his head, the tip of the root poking and prodding at it each time he shifts. He gasps, opening his palms to reveal the small wooden skull, working his fingers in between the jaws before  _ snapping  _ it into two. He squints as a bright green aura releases from the now empty skull, traveling past the inventor and back up the cliffside. He lets the pieces fall into the water, taking in slow breaths despite the still looming danger.

Hugo is... _ really  _ lucky he doesn’t have his glasses on. Because when he happens to look down, he can see dark water and white foam turning a deep crimson, not having heard a scream from the scientist. He shudders, closing his eyes and taking it all in. This trip has gone  _ terrible.  _ Was it even worth it anymore? Or was this just a one time incident? Better yet, how was he going to get down from here?

_ “Ah crap,”  _ With that, he tries reaching for the closest root, only for it to give way and fall right into his hand, a clump of dried soil clinging to it. He could use this root for support, to try and unhook himself and balance on it if he-

“Need some help?”

Hugo isn’t quite sure what comes into his vision, having to look at it for a long moment before it hits him. Sheer joys floods his heart as he grips the handle of the shovel, the familiar voice making him sigh in relief. He uses the cliffside to prop his feet against something, and with the alchemist’s assistance, helps pull him back onto the grassy clearing. He immediately rolls onto his back, arms spread as he stares up at the sky, taking in shuddering breaths.

“Varian,” He breathes, vision  _ still  _ trying to adjust as the figure comes into view. He swallows, mind racing to process the near death experience, his teammate being the only solace. He notices a familiar raccoon perched on the boy’s shoulder, thankful Varian’s mind seems to have returned to him. “You….you saved me…”

He doesn’t get a response until Varian lays down beside him, Ruddiger nestling himself in the space between the two, the alchemist trying to catch his breath as well. “So...so did you…”

“Are you okay?”

“Nothing I-“ He chokes back a cough, grunting into his fist. “Can’t handle…”

“You were mind wiped for like...a whole night!”

“You’d be surprised what I-  _ oh jeez,”  _ Apparently getting one’s mind back was quite the rush of emotions...and memories. And all the other dreadful thoughts of what happened at the hellish manor.

“Just...take your time and...we can go get...the others soon….”

When Nuru and Yong finally woke up, they rushed outside to help save their dear friends. Only to find...things had already been taken care of. Despite Varian’s incident, he requested that they help Hugo’s injuries be tended to. As much as they didn’t wish to spend another second in that dreadful place, with its owner gone...they saw no need to not stay a  _ bit  _ longer.

Hugo most definitely cracked something in his side.

It was the explanation for the coughing, the blood, and the breathing struggles, along with the other afflicted injuries that only made things worse. He awakens in the bed he slept in the night before, his last memory being that of staring out at a stormy gray sky alongside Varian.

He at first thought it all to have been a dream, until the blonde noticed the concerned expressions of his friends. He’s quickly filled in on the details, and despite the intense urge to freak out, he brushes it off with a laugh before wincing in pain, his bandaged side still aching.

He’s instructed to give it a few hours, his friends coming in to check on him  _ and  _ Varian, having been coaxed into the fact that he needs help just as much as Hugo. Both were given herbal tea and had the young boy and princess observe their behavior, and  _ finally,  _ when both felt they were feeling well enough to leave, they did just that.

Once they packed and headed out, the three of his teammates encompass Varian in a hug, the boy having been through quite the stir. “It’s fine guys, really,” A soft blush tints his cheeks, rubbing the back of his neck. It was...disturbing, to have that happen to him, but physically he was fine. And there might be a delayed emotional reaction, given that he didn’t exactly  _ have  _ his mind to process what had transpired.

“You take it easy,” Hugo assures his teammate as he hops onto Prometheus, making sure to be careful so as not to strain his injuries. He slumps against the donkey, hoping to take it easy himself. His wounds hadn’t healed entirely, but they had to head out, to seek the next kingdom and discover what exactly it holds. “Meanwhile I’ll lead us to-“

“Uh, who said you could lead?”

“ _ Uh,  _ I’m on the donkey and I have a clear mind.”

“Clear mind?” Varian retorts, crossing his arms. “You got smacked in the head like five times!”

“But  _ I  _ still know where we’re going. Like I said, just  _ rest _ .”

Varian rolls his eyes at the smugness in his tone. “I-I know how to navigate through these woods more than you,  _ pretty boy!” _

_ “Pretty boy?”  _ Hugo is astonished by such flattering words being disguised as an insult. “Whoa, I didn’t know you were into the beat up guys who saved your life.” 

Varian’s blush deepens when Hugo shoots him a wink, immediately turning defensive. “N-No I don’t! I didn’t mean it like that, I-“

“Are they...fighting?” Yong raises a brow at the pair as their banter continues a yard from them, Nuru having her hands on her hips with a satisfied smile.

“I think they’re  _ flirting,  _ actually.”

“What’s that?”

“I’ll tell you when you’re older.” The princess summons their attention with a whistle, their little talk coming to an abrupt end.

“Let’s get going boys,” She struts past them, taking the lead down the stone path. “Besides, you guys can take turns with directions, or try to  _ compromise.” _

Varian and Hugo exchange glances, brows raised before Hugo shrugs.

“Wanna take turns and ask before we decide on a direction?”

“...Fine.”


End file.
